Introduction

The dissemination by WikiLeaks of "classified" communications of the US military and diplomatic services allows serious attention to be given to systemic phenomena which are typically dismissed as being "unconfirmed" allegations of marginal significance -- at worst exceptional incidents. Whilst "everyone" has long acknowledged the extent of secrecy and corruption, this was typically minimized or denied in official communications, establishment media and education systems. More problematic is the degree to which such systemic phenomena have been denied or minimized in academic studies and modelling of the world system.

The phenomena have however become increasingly evident through the revelation of "scandals" at the very highest level, whether involving embezzlement of funds or "illicit" sexual relationships. Many with experience of contractual relationships are aware of the extent to which they are dependent on "commissions" or other forms of bribery and unmentionable pressures -- or even blackmail and "dirty tricks".

The concern here is with the psychosocial processes of the transition between "overt" and "covert" in various flows which interweave to constitute a global system of circulating "value". The question is how to understand and represent the global nature of the dynamic of these interconnected flows -- "transcending" the denial of the extent of what is essentially covert. In the absence of any such consideration, the global system can only be understood "superficially", however much that representation is appreciated by many. For those involved in many forms of business, such superficiality does not represent the "real" world. Rather it is the camouflage for the ways business is often "really done".

Ultimately the question to be asked is how adequate global models can be developed to enable credible global governance in the absence of meaningful integration of the "unsaid". The approach taken here follows from a previous suggestion to benefit, as a suggestive template, from the relatively comprehensible global complexity of the thermohaline circulation of the ocean currents around the world (Enabling Moral Currency Circulation, 2010). The phenomena to be interwoven are therefore explored through the metaphor of "currents". A set of other images is used to highlight alternative ways of thinking about the experiential continuity between psychosocial "surface-currents" and "under-currents", notably in terms of knot theory and topology. It is this inclusion and incorporation of the hidden which seen as vital to the global governance of the future -- a "two-eyed approach" vital to the sense of perspective of which the current "one-eyed approach" is deprived.

Recognizing secrecy and unknowns in global modelling and metaphors

Facade of civilized normalcy: The diplomatic cables disseminated by WikiLeaks make clear the evaluations of US diplomats of the nature of systemic corruption in many countries. Understandably they make no comparison with practices which might be considered analogous in the USA itself. Again these are otherwise evident in scandals associated with election campaigns, purchase of (diplomatic) office or "earmarking" through campaign contributions, use of espionage to facilitate competitivity of US multinationals, and the like. There is little systematic investigation of these phenomena which, when it occurs, is effectively quashed -- as the investigation of the corruption in police forces over decades has long demonstrated.

It was the tearing of this facade which was labelled by such as Hillary Clinton as an "attack on the international community, the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity". A senior US lawmaker (according to CNN) warned that it could lead to "a catastrophic breakdown of trust between nations" and a former US ambassador to Russia, James Collins (informing CNN), that it "will impede doing things in a normal, civilized way".

The 9/11 Commission had made the remarkable discovery that it wasn't sharing information that had put the nation's security at risk; it was not sharing information that was the problem....Leaks are not the problem; they are the symptom. They reveal a disconnect between what people want and need to know and what they actually do know. The greater the secrecy, the more likely a leak. The way to move beyond leaks is to ensure a robust regime for the public to access important information.

It remains to be clarified whether all the embassy cables were in fact designated NOFORUN since this category is understood to be "unclassified" by the US and does not correspond to those defined by the US as "classified".

As discussed previously, how is what is not known by significant constituencies (whether in positions of authority or otherwise) to be integrated into the sophisticated models designed to process the known? (Superquestions for Supercomputers, 2010). Expressed otherwise, how are blindspots to be allowed for -- and what are the consequences of groupthink when their existence is neglected? The extent, and implications of the "unsaid" are evident at the time of writing with the further dissemination of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks -- although, more generally, the dimensions and implications of the "unsaid" is necessarily a matter of ignorance (Global Strategic Implications of the Unsaid: from myth-making towards a wisdom society, 2003).

Value of secrecy: Of particular interest in response to the WikiLeaks documents is the articulation by various authors of the systemic function of secrecy in governance:

In a world of WikiLeaks, diplomacy would no longer be possible. The secrecy that WikiLeaks despises is vital to all organisations, including government -- and especially in the realm of international relations (Read cables and red faces, The Economist, 4th December 2010)

While the journalist in me recognises a clear duty to publish and be damned, the citizen in me also recognises a mess too far. I well know that no family, business or government can function without some genuine secrets. The trick is to focus on the genuine and to treat truly essential secrets accordingly (Max Frankel, WikiLeaks: Secrets shared with millions are not secret, The Guardian, 1 December 2010). Frankel was pivotal in the publication of the Pentagon Papers by The New York Times in 1971

For Paul Schroeder (The Secret Lives of Nations, The New York Times, 3 December 2010): Secrecy is an essential part of any negotiation: no corporate merger, complicated legal settlement, amicable divorce or serious political compromise could ever be reached without a reliable level of confidentiality. But secrecy is nowhere more essential than in foreign relations.... But the WikiLeaks disclosure, on a scale that, to my knowledge, is historically unprecedented, is totally different -- more like the work of irresponsible amateurs using dynamite to expand a tunnel that also contains, say, a city's electrical lines. The leaks will probably not cause war or even a serious crisis, but they will badly damage America's diplomatic machinery, processes and reputation.

Despite the reservation of Kettle regarding "necessary and honourable", the question is whether the systematic "classification" of so much information in government, business, science and religion is appropriate. How is "appropriate" then to be determined, as with how such issues figure in global modelling of relevance to governance? Who, other than the USA and its clients, would affirm that the actions of the USA -- secret or otherwise -- were a measure of professional responsibility in an era of multiple challenges to global governance? In whose interest is the secrecy that Schroeder seeks to protect at this time? How "effective" is secrecy proving to be -- and for whom -- in the case of the Middle East peace process? (Noam Chomsky, The Charade of Israeli-Palestinian Talks, 7 December 2010). Schroeder's argument is of course based on the assumption that government authorities are worthy of trust when acting secretly, as with those making the case that they are. Both assumptions are increasingly questionable (Abuse of Faith in Governance: mystery of the unasked question, 2009).

Inhibiting creative insight: A predictable response by the US government has been a ban on accessing the diplomatic cables released via WikiLeaks. But this appears to be extending to a warning to students at universities that accessing such materials endangers their future job prospects with the government. This thereby ensures that universities are complicit in such restrictions. The distinction between "surface-current" ("formal") and "under-current" ("informal") explored below is apparent in the account of Ewen MacAskill (Columbia students told job prospects will be harmed if they access cables, The Guardian, 6 December 2010) between:

"informal": acknowledgement by the Office of Career Services of Columbia University that it had indeed emailed students to that effect at the university's school of international and public affairs following advice it had received from an alumnus who"recommends that you do not post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites...[which] would call into question your ability to deal with confidential information, which is part of most positions with the deferal government"

"formal": insistence from the US state department (to The Huffington Post) that no such advice had been sent out formally

This pattern is reminiscent to that of religions restricting access to certain literature -- exemplified by deprecated the Index Librorum Prohibitorum of the Catholic Church. There is little attention to this controversial matter, with even the inaccessibility of data being a matter of concern in relation to climate change research. Is this an indication of the kinds of "sub-education" which resulted in the imaginal deficiency considered significant in the interpretation of the intelligence associated with 9/11? When will students aspiring to employment in American government be "encouraged" to confine their information sourcing to Fox News -- or be "well-advised" not to read The New York Times given that it is now accused by Joe Lieberman (chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs) of engaging in an "act of bad citizenship", if not a crime, by publishing versions of the embassy cables? What kinds of global modelling research would be considered meaningful by those emerging from such an educational system, especially when funding for research would be unavailable -- if it was dependent on perspectives offered by confidential or controversial material?

Strategically disastrous blindspots: More questionable in the case of global modelling is where the information is not of a form which lends itself to being taken into account with conventional methodologies. Examples are offered by:

the classic case of the avoidance by economists, until relatively recently, of any consideration of "women's work" in the home or garden, or of the "informal economy" more generally. Economics focused on the monetarised economy and avoided other transactions for which quantitative data was not available. Whilst some consideration is now given to the "black economy", notions of unremunerated "work" remain a challenge, as in the case of the voluntary sector. This may have major psychosocial and legislative consequences for those who do not have a "job" and are therefore framed as "unemployed". Provocatively it may be asked if anyone alive does not "work"-- according to a more systemically realistic definition. By extension, animals and plants of every kind may be said to "work" to sustain themselves -- according to thermodynamic definitions of "work".

The Kaya identity (Kaya, 1990) is a decomposition that expresses the level of energy related CO2 emissions as the product of four indicators: (1) carbon intensity (CO2 emissions per unit of total primary energy supply (TPES)), (2) energy intensity (TPES per unit of GDP), (3) gross domestic product per capita (GDP/cap) and (4) population....

The challenge - an absolute reduction of global GHG emissions - is daunting. It presupposes a reduction of energy and carbon intensities at a faster rate than income and population growth taken together. Admittedly, there are many possible combinations of the four Kaya identity components, but with the scope and legitimacy of population control subject to ongoing debate, the remaining two technology-oriented factors, energy and carbon intensities, have to bear the main burden.... [emphasis added]

Such examples imply that ignorance of one kind or another is effectively "designed into" global models -- in a questionable manner of which no account is taken (Lipoproblems: developing a strategy omitting a key problem, 2009). Such systemic reframing may be understood as a form of conceptual gerrymandering, usefully deprecated as "keyhole science" with respect to any understanding of the global system. Especially interesting are cases where anomalies are "designed out" as exceptions unworthy of attention. This is questionable both in the case of awkward data points (in seeking to confirm a theory) or of "bad apples" (as in the case of the initial response of the Catholic Church to supposedly "isolated" cases of sexual abuse by clergy). In fact "bad apples" may offer vital insight into the system.

"Sweeping dirt under the carpet":This issue is approached in a remarkably helpful and sensible manner by Emanuel Derman (Metaphors, Models and Theories, The Edge, 2 December 2010), a physicist who became a quant on Wall Street, who argues in summary:

Theories deal with the world on its own terms, absolutely. Models are metaphors, relative descriptions of the object of their attention that compare it to something similar already better understood via theories. Models are reductions in dimensionality that always simplify and sweep dirt under the rug. Theories tell you what something is. Models tell you merely what something is partially like.

The significance for collective understanding of global governance of the "dirt" thereby swept "under the rug" has been made evident in the significance attached to the embassy cables disseminated via WikiLeaks.

Derman further notes:

In physics or finance, the first major struggle is to gain some intuition about how to proceed; the second struggle is to transform that intuition into something more formulaic, a set of rules anyone can follow, rules that no longer require the original insight itself. One person's breakthrough becomes everybody's possession. The world is multi-dimensional. Models allow us to project the object into a smaller space and then extrapolate or interpolate within it. At some point the extrapolation will break down. What's amazing is how well it sometimes works, especially in the physical sciences.

But extrapolation based on limited information is dangerous; extrapolation depends on a model, not a fact.... When unconsciously used models result in paradoxes or conflicts, it becomes necessary to expose and then examine unconscious assumptions.... In physics it pays to drop down deep, several levels below what you can observe (think of Newton, Maxwell, Dirac), formulate an elegant principle, and then rise back to the surface to work out the observable consequences.

In financial valuation, which lacks deep scientific principles, it's better to stay shallow and use models that have as direct as possible a path between observation of similarity and its consequences. Markets are by definition vulgar, and correspondingly the most useful models are wisely vulgar too, using variables that the crowd uses, like price per square foot, to describe the phenomena they observe. Build vulgar models in a sophisticated way. Of course, over time crowds and markets get smarter and the definition of vulgarity changes to encompass increasingly sophisticated concepts.

Psychosocial processes: under-currents versus surface-currents

The revelations via WikiLeaks, and the reactions evoked, make it very clear that the global system operates according to double standards -- as frequently suggested by many and as frequently dismissed scornfully by the diplomatic community and by the US in particular. Much is made by the latter of promoting democracy and freedom -- whatever the cost in lives and livelihoods -- and especially the freedom of information.

Enabling extrajudical action: However the revelations make it clear that the attitude in practice is rather:

There have been various suggestions as to what to do to Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, after a week in which his revelations have severely embarrassed US diplomacy. Tom Flanagan, a former aide to the Canadian prime minister, called for his assassination... Mike Huckabee said that those found guilty of leaking the cables should be executed for putting national security at risk. You would expect a future Republican presidential candidate to say that. But a Democrat administration is close behind. A team from the justice department and the Pentagon are exploring whether to charge Mr Assange under the Espionage Act.

Assumptions of legitimacy: For those whose activities are conducted "under wraps" as under-currents, there is nothing inherently "wrong" or inappropriate in doing so -- as Clinton has been at pains to explain to her counterparts who have been embarrassed by the revelations of the embassy cables. Most striking, in the same week, is the contrast between

the espionage on UN leadership (interpreted as "identity theft" in other contexts) but authorised by Hillary Clinton -- has been variously reframed as "legitimate", with every probability that any formal, legal protest will be quashed, rather than treated as a serious breach of international treaty obligations (Julian Borger, Embassy cables: Where does diplomacy end and spying begin?The Guardian, 28 November 2010; Robert Booth and Ewen MacAskill, US embassy cables: UN seeks answers from Washington, The Guardian, 28 November 2010). The USA is after all a principal source of UN funds, a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council, and the location of the UN Secretariats. The relevant clause of the 1946 convention reads:

The property and assets of the United Nations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation and any other form of interference, whether by executive, administrative, judicial, or legislative action.

The development of the legal case against Julian Assange, as instigator of WikiLeaks, currently focuses on his sexual misconduct in Sweden. His freedom of movement is now curtailed by Interpol (Assange's Interpol Warrant Is for Having Sex Without a Condom, The Slatest, 3 December 2010). In the UK, where he is assumed to be located, the matter is being handled by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Mark Townsend, British police seek Julian Assange over rape claims, The Guardian, 1 December 2010). This raises the surreal possibility that any accusation of rape anywhere in the world is now liable to give rise to an Interpol warrant and to be treated as "serious organized crime" (rather than a "misjudgement" or a "mistake"). This process has so far severely demeaned and rendered ridiculous the UK, Interpol, and Sweden (widely assumed to be acting under pressure from the USA, as with its previous complicity in rendition). Ironically amusing from a Freudian perspective is the fact that legal proceedings against Assange are notably based on the fact that he engaged in "unprotected sex" -- a concept readily associated with an interpretation of "WikiLeaks", potentially influencing his prosecutors and accusers unconsciously. Or was it rather the "condom" of the US embassy network that leaked -- revealing the extent to which diplomats engaged in unprotected intercourse?

Doublespeak: Part of the challenge is in the manner in which euphemism is used to indicate the existence of what is hidden or not readily admitted. But such practices, with which all are relatively familiar, actually hold the nature of the cognitive process bridging between two realities -- even two worlds. It might be said to start at the earliest age with "secrets" kept from the children -- or from the parents. In that sense, doublespeak and "speaking with a forked tongue" is what humanity does:

References to "national security" are increasingly to be recognized as code for switching to doublespeak. Similarly references to the highest acclaimed values -- notably by politicians and religious leaders -- increasingly have the same implication. References by national leaders to "gross irresponsibility", such as by the prime minister of the country of which Julian Assange is a citizen, carefully avoid any reference to the espionage authorised by Clinton on the UN leadership. Is this to be interpreted as "gross responsibility"?

References to "freedom of information" usually imply freedom to access information carefully sifted for reasons of "national security" for the protection of vested interests as noted above.
Commentators are currently noting the contrast between Hillary Clinton's interventions in response to WikiLeaks
and her much-admired recent speech and subsequent article (Internet Freedom, Foreign Policy, 21 January 2010)

On their own, new technologies do not take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress. But the United States does. We stand for a single internet where all of humanity has equal access to knowledge and ideas. And we recognise that the world's information infrastructure will become what we and others make of it.

This challenge may be new, but our responsibility to help ensure the free exchange of ideas goes back to the birth of our republic. The words of the first amendment to the constitution [guaranteeing freedom of speech] are carved in 50 tons of Tennessee marble on the front of this building. And every generation of Americans has worked to protect the values etched in that stone.

The quality of doublespeak is evident from the announcement that the USA is to host Unesco's World Press Freedom Day event (Washington DC, 2011):

The theme for next year's commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and
innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals' right to freedom of expression. At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information. We mark events such as World Press Freedom Day in the context of our enduring commitment to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age. (US Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. to Host World Press Freedom Day in 2011, 7 December 2010)

...moral norms were not constraining the behaviour of those competing across complex and interlocked global entities that covered both shadow and formal banking systems....at the heart of the world's biggest banks was a culture of unethical financial practices that were, right up to boardroom level, connived at, condoned and rewarded. It was nothing short of chronic recklessness powered by unchecked greed....The motto of the old order... was "My word is my bond" but the financial crisis revealed a culture quite alien to that heritage, a culture whereby the stewards of people's money were revealed to have become speculators with it.... but their [the bankers] key argument - that they took big risks on their own shoulders - was being exposed as illusory. It was not the bankers who took the risk but the government - and the people - who had had risks thrust upon them, often with little prospect of reward [emphasis added]

Doublespeak is evident in science. It is what scientists do in excluding dimensions, vital to their own sense of psychosocial reality, from the models through which they recommend that that reality be apprehended. As helpfully clarified (above) by Derman, there may be good reason for this in practice -- but the practice merits explicit recognition if the approach to global governance is to be realistic.

Doublespeak is a characteristic of many of the simplest business transactions -- as when the provider of a service does not make evident deficiencies associated with what is being sold, in comparison with claims vigorously made ("puffery").

Doublespeak is only too evident in politics, in the discrepancy between what is promised by politicians in electoral manifestos and what they intend to provide when elected, or what they then claim to be providing through skillful use of "spin".

Doublespeak is blatantly apparent in the advertising for many products when the explicit purpose is to create a favourable impression in order to disguise less acceptable practices -- as with much "greenwashing".

Astonishment at the duplicity revealed in the US embassy cables, and calls for the assassination of those facilitating their diffusion, are usefully placed in context by the traditional duplicity and doublespeak associated with diplomacy itself, as summarized by David Kahn (The Ancient Art of Interceptimg Dispatches, International Herald Tribune, 4-5 December 2010 -- available online under the appropriate title Dangerous Liaisons), making the point:

A British ambassador to Venice in the 17th century observed that 'a diplomat is an honest man sent abroad to lie for his country.' But for centuries, diplomats did more than lie. They bribed, they stole, they intercepted dispatches. Perhaps this will come as some consolation to the many American diplomats whose faces have been reddened by the trove of diplomatic cables released this week by WikiLeaks: whatever they've done cannot compare in underhandedness with what ambassadors did in the past.

It was presumably in such terms that Hillary Clinton justified to the UN Secretary-General the duplicity which she had authorised in relation to himself and his colleagues. Doublespeak is standard operating practice for the "international community" claiming to uphold the values of humanity.

The following is a brief checklist distinguishing between "under-currents" and the "surface-currents" in terms of which society is purportedly organized, and by which it is described. Descriptions of the "under-currents" are necessarily rare, if not (by definition) impossible and denied as irresponsible cynicism -- hence one value of WikiLeaks.

Identification of major systemic "currents"

The following processes, understood as currents, are listed here as disparate elements which the future may be able to weave together appropriately into a global system -- as with the thermohaline system indicated below.

The list is necessarily tentative and indicative and calls for much refinement. Again the progressive mapping of the ocean currents over decades is indicative of the challenge. Many pieces need to be fitted together to build a picture of the system as a whole. Global models, such as the world dynamics initiatives promoted by the Club of Rome, are highly selective in the "currents" they consider relevant to an understanding of the world system. Corruption of any kind -- as an under-current -- was not taken into account. Hence the inadequacy of such models for global governance. Many of the "under-currents" indicated are the subject of further comment separately (Abuse of Faith in Governance, 2009).

Use of "currents" as a metaphor emphasizes that the following are dynamic processes -- experiential flows -- rather than abstract frozen categories. Separately a distinction has been made, in relation to a corresponding list, between "reality" and "fantasy" and what is then held to "exist" (Reality and existence, 2010). Here "reality" as commonly identified can be understood as a characteristic of "surface-currents", whereas "fantasy" might be understood in terms of "under-currents".

Politics:

surface-current: this is what is extolled as the honourable essence of the political process through which decisions are reached democratically or in response to political honorable compromise

under-current: this is characterized by "dirty politics", whether "under the table" or in "smoke filled rooms", through which influence is "bought" (bribery of legislators, lobbying, influence peddling) -- or ensured by unmentionable pressures (bullying, threats, etc), all readily disavowed by both perpetrators and victims. It include the promotion of ill-specified threats -- the politics of fear, and the

Societal relationships:

surface-current: this is the acclaimed interaction between a diversity of cultures, appreciated for their unique contribution to global society

under-current: this is the active discrimination in practice governing relationships between groups defined as "in" against those defined as "out" and "nobodies" -- if not "sub-human" . It is most characteristic of social elites and self-selected secret societies, whether criminal or otherwise, often protecting themselves through vows of silence (as with both the freemasons and the mafia)

Science and Research :

surface-current: this is the acclaimed collective pursuit of knowledge through research in the interests of humanity

under-current: this is the extent to which research and its results are controlled and determined by "sponsors" (possibly requiring scientific fraud) ; it includes the more questionable aspects of peer review and the manner in which some research themes are marginalized as disruptive to the mainstream

Business:

surface-current: this is the world of healthy competition promoted by business groups (chambers of commerce, Rotary, etc) as unquestionably vital to vibrant economic growth as the motor of society

under-current: this is the reality of contracts determined by "under the table" processes ("commissions", bribery, threats, "dirty tricks", unethical lobbying, etc), of systematic tax evasion (the "black economy"), and evasion of labour, health and environmental regulations. It also includes deliberately misleading advertising and contravention of protective legislation (pollution, degradation of the environment, etc)

Finance:

surface-current: this is the acclaimed reality of the "market", considered unquestionably essential to healthy growth and the correction of imbalances

under-current: this is the reality highlighted by the recent financial crisis (deliberate design of problematic derivatives, mis-selling, speculation, etc).

Taxation:

surface-current: this is the conventional practice whereby government and necessary public services are financed

under-current: this is the reality of tax avoidance and tax evasion (tax havens, etc) *** catch up

Military / Security services :

surface-current: this is the reality of honourably ensuring (national) security, whenever there is exposure to threat

under-current: this is the reality of disproportionate use of force, violent repression, deliberate attacks on civilian populations, torture -- and their misrepresentation as being necessary for the protection of (national) security. It is characterized by the development and use of secret and ever more inhumane weapons, institutionalised bulling and misrepresentation of levels of threat.

Religion:

surface-current: this is the celebration of spiritual belief and the promotion of human values upheld as the highest

under-current: this is the deprecation and demonisation of alternative beliefs and of nonbelievers. It is also associated with questionable discrimination against women and other sexual preferences, condemnation of sexuality in general (especially outside marriage), and actions of the priesthood incompatible with acclaimed values (sexual and other forms of abuse, etc). Notably in the form of cults, this may involve extensive manipulation and misrepresentation, especially abuse of confidence in relation to the use of solicited funds (promises of heavenly salvation, sale of indulgences, etc)

Health:

surface-current: this is the acclaimed promotion and protection of health and well-being by every means possible

under-current: this is the deliberate misrepresentation of health risks and cures, most notably by health professionals and the pharmaceutical industry. It includes the complicity of medical professionals in unethical experimentation on humans (syphilis, radioactivity), involvement in torture and its development, and questionable complicity in health scares (flu pandemic)

Law and Justice :

surface-current: this is the acclaimed protection of all according to the provisions of legislation, exemplifying the excellence and fairness of justice

under-current: this is the reality of miscarriages of justice, vulnerability of the judiciary to bribery, tampering with witnesses and evidence (or its suppression), arbitrary justice, deliberate procedural delays. It is also associated with the legitimation of secret treaties and dubious legal opinions

Education:

surface-current: this is the acclaimed process through which all are enabled to develop themselves to the limits of their capacity

under-current: this is the process through which educational qualifications are "acquired", whether by cheating, payment, or "services rendered". It also includes the introduction of deliberate bias into the curriculum in the promotion of particular ideological agendas.

Sport:

surface-current: this is the acclaimed context for honourable competition through which the human spirit is exalted

under-current: this is the reality of "fixing" competitions, doping, bribery (as documented in the case of FIFA and the Olympic Games), and such scandals as the case of Caster Semenya

Arts:

surface-current: this is the acclaimed arena of human creativity of every kind -- painting, music, song, dance -- as an expression of human identity

under-current: this is the reality of the manipulation and distortions of value in the art market, of theft of cultural property (from indigenous peoples, etc), and of forgery

Fashion:

surface-current: this is the acclaimed world of fashion through which people reimagine and redesign themselves

under-current: this is the reality of manipulation of fashion under commercial pressure to render obsolete previous fashions in order to ensure frequent purchase of new products and to deprecate those who fail to follow such trends. It includes the forgery which endeavours to bypass the constraints of "labels". It is the reality of pretence made evident through cosmetic surgery.

Bureaucracy:

surface-current: this the respected world of the honourable administrators and civil servants who keep the "wheels of society running".

under-current: this is the reality of bureaucratic game-playing and red tape through which delays are deliberately ensured and the lives of some are made into a living hell

Interpersonal relations:

surface-current: this is the acclaimed world of friendship, community and family values

under-current: this is the reality of undeclared attraction,"chemistry", secret relationships and sexual intercourse

Movement within each current could be understood cognitively as bearing some resemblance to movement along an optical fibre cable in which coherence is maintained by reflection back from the side of the cable. This corresponds to the argument regarding traffic on communication geometry by Ron Atkin (Multidimensional Man: can man live in three dimensional space? 1981). Experienced as "flows" rather than "sectors", the issue is one of recognizing "inter-flows" connectivity rather than "inter-sectoral" connectivity.

Psychosocial "thermohaline circulation"?

As suggested for an initial (simplistic) interweaving of such currents, whether "surface-current" or "under-current", the thermohaline circulation offers a representation which is adequately complex and yet constitutes a dynamic whole of necessarily global significance. Something of this kind is required, but initially this has mnemonic advantages to facilitate discussion. In other words the argument is that each of the "surface-currents" identified above, could be associated with one of the distinct surface ocean currents in the maps below. Similarly, each of the "under-currents" identified above would be associated with one of the deep ocean currents identified in the images below.

"Rising up" and "Sinking down" in psychosocial systems

The key to any attribution of psychosocial currents to the psychosocial globe so depicted would be suggestive insight into functions appropriately analogous to "heat" and "salinity" in thermohaline circulation. Other clues to any mapping are given by the sense in which the surface-currents tend to be driven by the wind -- usefully associated mnemonically with movements of opinion, as in any "wind of change".

By contrast, with respect to the deeper currents, the predominant driving force is differences in density, caused by salinity and temperature (the more saline the denser, and the colder the denser). Mnemonically again, although "salacious" does not share a common etymology, its connotation of "lustful" (perhaps in some senses of "salty") is consistent with many theological perspectives regarding the "baser" human values. Denser could also be associated with a sense of "weightiness" or "gravitas" -- in contrast with the "light weight" readily associated with any kind of superficiality.

In other words the question is what causes a current to:

"rise up": Rising up is a common metaphor for responding to the attraction of light -- rising "into the light" -- perhaps to be understood as a response to the more enlightened values of global society. It is by such light that people are variously warmed -- as in warm relationships.

"sink down": Sinking down is a metaphor commonly understood with reference to any association with "baser" or "lower" values. There is then a sinking "into darkness" associated with a characteristic "heaviness". It could be understood as "endarkenment".

The surface-currents and under-currents can maintain their identity even though they coexist -- positioning themselves one above or below the other according to their density (as determined by temperature and salinity). This corresponds to the common experience of many of being able to function in one overt mode whilst at the same time pursuing a possibly contrary covert agenda -- as the cables of WikiLeaks have so neatly confirmed with respect to the foreign policy of one country. However the experience is most readily recognized by individuals -- perhaps obliged by circumstances to do one thing and pretend another.

Of particular interest in the psychosocial sense are any particular circumstances of upwelling or sinking. An example is perhaps offered by surprise, whether with respect to larger strategic matters (as is typical of military or business engagements) or to personal dealings. In the latter case the experience of a confidence trick is insightful. Having proceeded, perhaps gullibly, on the basis of one easy assumption -- facilitated by the agreeability of the encounter -- one is suddenly confronted by the recognition of the baseness of the other and the manner in which one has been "conned", perhaps disastrously. There is then recognition of the other's ability to function at both levels and being dragged down by that encounter. Whether the surprise is agreeable or disagreeable, its impact may well be transformative (Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: the impact of the highly improbable, 2007; Karen A.Cerulo, Never Saw It Coming: cultural challenges to envisioning the worst, 2006). The impact of the embassy cables could be considered in that light -- both for those ensconced in the legitimacy of their secretive reality and those surprised by unsuspected truths.

The transition between levels might also be usefully recognized in processes through which people "rise to prominence" (as with celebrity media exposure) or experience a dramatic "downfall" -- perhaps resulting in incarceration or some other form of institutionalization isolated from the warmth of friends and family.

Whilst the process may indeed be cyclic, as with the cycles associated with substance abuse, the question raised is why any such cycle is necessary in systemic terms. Why is a one-way process not possible or preferable? One response lies in the saying "what goes up, must come down". The truth of this is evident in experience of heightened pleasure, necessarily to be followed by a "down" cycle. Staying "up" all the time is recognized as being not feasible -- at least in the longer term -- just as with "inspiration", necessarily to be followed by expiration. This is as true at the cultural level, with the rise and fall of empires over time.

Since it was emphasized above that the systemic focus was on flows not categories or sectors, an interesting aspect of any global mapping of those flows occurs in relation to, or engenders, zones of "solidity" which could be understood as continents and islands -- bounded cognitive sectors more reminiscent of conventionally frozen categories. As noted above, using the widely familiar planetary globe as a template offers a means of thinking in new ways about the relationships between invariance and the change implicit in flow. In contrast to the classic dictum of Alfred Korzybski, the territory can in this context be fruitfully explored as a map (The Territory Construed as the Map: in search of radical design innovations in the representation of human activities and their relationships, 1979). This is then consistent at the global level with the argument of Gregory Bateson (Mind and Nature: a necessary unity, 1979). Irrespective of the controversial aspects of such connectivity, it can be readily argued that it is the contraints and patterning proclivities of the human mind that renders any such isomorphism credible.

Rather than asking the question what currents circulate globally around the conventional social sectors -- understood through frozen categories -- the emphasis is placed on the systemic flows and what distinct zones they effectively engender. This offers scope for the imagination, as indicated below by the maps of the island continents of "Marxyland" and "Freudyland" -- produced under pseudonyms by the future researchers John McHale and Magda McHale.

The thermohaline circulation of ocean currents around the globe offer a further suggestive insight. To be both wind-driven and warmed, the "surface-currents" are necessarily of greater width and more limited depth and move more rapidly. The eventual cooling and sinking of such waters leads to their movement into the ocean basins at great depth, possibly even ocean trenches, where proportionately greater volumes of water move far more slowly -- with the oldest waters estimated to have a transit time of up to 1600 years before they "upwell". Such periods are a reminder of the duration of empires before some form of "comeupance" necessarily occurs -- a deserved reward or just due.

Attributing significance to forms of representation

The above argument suggests the possibility of a mnemonic attribution of significance. The intention here is not to explore this possibility further here, although the following might be considered in an exploratory and educational mode:

treating the current segments (noted above) as elements of a form of jigsaw puzzle to be linked together on a global map

using a continuous loop made up of such coloured segments (representing the currents) that could be disconnected and reconnected in various sequences. The object would then be to lay this "necklace" flat on the map, twisting it appropriately such that some loops were placed on top of others

further to the previous possibility, the loop could be wrapped around a spherical globe -- a conventional representation of the world -- especially if the "necklace" could be stretched

Given such possibilities, the systemic mapping challenge could however be reframed more formally and more symbolically in the light of possibilities such as the following set of images.

However the global thermohaline circulation depicted above may be readily seen as a more "organic" and cognitively accessible depiction of the interconnection of distinct processes through which life is engendered and sustained on the globe.

Schematic representation of global circulation
surface-currents
and undercurrents,
each composed of interflowing sub-currents

Use of a Möbius strip to represent the cognitive relationship
between "surface" and "under" currents

The omission of any link between the two kinds of current in the left-hand image is clearly a defect. This is corrected in that on the right with the continuity between them now evident in that (paradoxically) the strip only has a single side.

Emphasis of the value of a paradoxical relationship between surface- and under-currents by association with the adaptive cycle (as being essential to global governance) with the Möbius strip

Use of a trefoil knot in three dimensions
-- doubled by a "shadow" equivalent

The representation on the left offers a useful association to the systemic challenge of navigating challenges calling for a cycle of adaptation. However it is excessively abstract and has lost the variety of "currents". That on the right is the first suggestion -- beyond the Möbius strip -- of the "knotted" cognitive complexity relating surface- and under-currents. It indicates both the variety of interflowing currents and the distinction between surface- and under-current

Selection of knots (a focus of knot theory and topology)
suggesting a richer range of possibilities of the interconnecting flows between surface- and under-currents

These images offer a reminder of the interest in knot theory and topology of psychoanalysts, such as Jacques Lacan and R. D. Laing. This controversial approach has yet to be applied more generally to social processes and those of governance. It might well be said that many in governance-related processes would recognize the extent to which they are now "tied up in knots"
-- especially as a consequence of the embassy cables disseminated by WikiLeaks.

These images, and those below,
suggest further possibilities whereby the interconnecting flows between surface- and under-currents may be related -- transitions between those distinct realities. The image on the right highlights the extent to which knot theory has articulated such patterns -- as indicated by the notation system. It might well be asked what could emerge from exploring the application of such notation to distinguish patterns of connectivity between surface- and under-currents.
.

Two parts of a table of knots of up to nine-crossings by Sean Collom
suggesting the range of possibilities of the interconnecting flows between surface- and under-currents

The above suggests the emergence of a form of periodic table based on the number of "crossings" between surface- and under-currents.

Schematic use of a chain to suggest that the surface- and under-currents, if individually represented by a Möbius strip, might be usefully understood as interlinked to form a global systemic chain

Highlighting the disparity between any necessarily lengthy "linear" chain" of interflowing processes and the simpler sense of globality

The left-hand image returns to the limited set of currents of global significance, suggesting that the relationship between them poses a cognitive challenge. However it also raises the query as to what is thereby placed in "cognitive chains" -- potentially appropriately reminiscent of a problematic "chain of office"?. The right-hand image highlights the challenge of meaningfully relating any "chain" to the " higher dimensionality" of the globe. An adequate degree of interweaving is required to engage with the globe, as suggested by the following images.

One example of interweaving: framing the interflowing processes as an elegant 2-dimensional pattern imposed as a key to global order of higher dimensionality

Another example of interweaving: encompassing the globe in a network of interlocking processes, recognizing the higher-dimensionality of globality
(formal "cognitive imprisonment" avoiding the challenge of engaging with globality?)

The left-hand image highlights the trap of formal elegance in 2-dimensions which can only imply an engagement with the higher dimensionality of the globe. This is abstract symbolic elegance at the price of systemic reality. The pattern would serve better in "holding" the globe if it had taken the form of basketware curving round the globe. However the right-hand image suggests that an excessive degree of systemic closure might be excessively constraining -- a cognitive trap of another kind. That image corresponds to the typical aspiration of empire in grasping and controlling the world through a systemically interlinked network of bases (see Wikipedia's List of United States military bases). There are of the order of 1,000 military bases and installations worldwide (Jules Dufour, The Worldwide Network of US Military Bases, Global Research, 1 July 2007). Any such base implies a particular kind of communications nexus or "knot". This perspective is consistent with reported strategies to "control the internet" notably through a so-called "kill switch", which have presumably now acquired far greater momentum as a result of WikiLeaks (Joe LIEberman's 'Internet Kill Switch' Bill Moves Forward In Senate, Backstabber Report, 9 August 2010; Tom Burghardt, Through the Wormhole: the secret state's mad scheme to control the internet, Pacific Free Press, 27 June 2010).

A cognitive network having failed to encompass and "hold" the higher dimensionality of globality

These images illustrate the traditional use of netware
to capture a large whole. Whether as net or basket, the woven pattern has a readily understandable function in capturing and holding animals, extended here to that of "grasping" a whole (The Future of Comprehension: conceptual birdcages and functional basket-weaving, 1980). The suggesting here is that the approach is potentially mistaken -- implying a particular understanding of globality. The right-hand image illustrates the failure of that process -- with the whole "falling through the net"

A spherical organization of mutually counter-acting (surface- and under-current) processes

Omphalos of Greek legend, understood as depicting the pathways of two eagles (the surface and under-currents)

The left-hand image points to the possibility of more complex, looser-woven, open structures as a means of engaging with globality. The pattern is that of tensional integrity (tensegrity), approximating and implying the continuing quest for globality. The interweaving of contrasting structural features has been discussed separately with respect to social organization (Implementing Principles by Balancing Configurations of Functions: a tensegrity organization approach, 1979). The right-hand image uses a traditional symbol to recall how the global pattern of currents engendered by the highest dimensionality effectively "fly across the world" to meet at its center, the "navel" of the globe.

These various formal representations, with their insights and deficiencies, can be compared with the organic elegance of the complex flow of ocean currents which better holds the experiential nature of "under-currents" in the psychosocial system.

Collective activities potentially offering global self-remediation

In considering ways of eliciting collective insight into remedies for the current condition of global governance, it is worth speculating on the possibility that "recreational" sport has always offered unsuspected clues through its "popularity". Whether unconsciously or not, are "we the peoples" cognitively self-remediating (rather than self-medicating) as a collectivity through sport? (John Ralston Saul, The Unconscious Civilization, 1995). This "therapeutic" dimension, appropriately associated with "recreation", enriches insight into the nature of the quest for collective intelligence and self-organization (Consciously Self-reflexive Global Initiatives: Renaissance zones, complex adaptive systems, and third order organizations, 2007).

It is intriguing, given the worldwide focus on the Olympic Games, that the Olympic symbol bears an interesting geometric relationship to the configurations above. Do particular sports highlight particular cognitive skills as explored speculatively in relation to football (Understanding Sustainable Dialogue: the secret within Bucky's Ball?, 1996).

The five Olympic rings represent the interconnectedness of the five continents of the world involved in the Olympics. In the above argument they are also suggestive of the currents effectively delineating those continents. It is also tempting to consider an implied reference to a set of "five sports" which together reflect the variety of insights corrective of global systemic imbalance and vital to the "health" of the world.

As might be expected, the classification of sports in general is a controversial matter (see Wikipedia's Outline of sports). Many sports are not included in a current Olympic programme, although considered recognized sports by the International Olympic Committee. Other "sports" are not so recognized. Some of the sports are understood to consist of multiple disciplines.

For the speculative purpose of this exercise, a rough classification might distinguish sports as follows:

those who accept what the Wikileaks releases indicate at face value, largely due to the misrepresentation of the documents by the corporate-controlled news.

those who see the documents as authentic and simply in need of proper interpretation and analysis.

those, many of whom are in the alternative media, who approach the leaks with caution and suspicion.

those who simply cast the leaks aside as a 'psy-op' designed to target specific nations that fit into the foreign policy objectives of the USA.

those who deplore the leaks as 'treason' or threatening 'security'.

The challenge is to weave five such contrasting insights into any global model as "five eyes" each with its particular function. Marshall's essay aims to examine the nature of the Wikileaks releases, suggesting how "should" they be approached and understood. The question would then be whether rejected perspectives, valued by some constituencies, should then be "designed out". A healthier approach would, for example, take advantage of the insight of Ray Kurzweil in designing speech recognition and other applications using a set of modules with complementary functions. This is consistent with recognition of the challenging interplay of five modules of the human brain or of the need for distinct, but complementary, languages to order experience of richer significance (Antonio T de Nicolas, Neurobiology, Communities, Religion: a bio-cultural study, 1998).

Conclusions

In the quest of paradigm shifts: At the time of writing, national, regional and global governance are variously faced with stresses for which there is little new thinking. In the specific case of the financial crisis of the eurozone, Jean-Claude Trichet as president of the European Central Bank, has called upon the 16 members of the currency union for "a quantum leap in the governance of the eurozone". An editorial in The Guardian immediately thereafter was titled Eurozone crisis: New panic, old thinking (3 December 2010). Seemingly there is indeed no new thinking on the horizon in a week characterized by the worldwide release via WikiLeaks of US diplomatic cables -- and the title in the same medium How WikiLeaks altered the way we see the world in just a week (The Guardian, 4 December 2010).

Given the imaginative creativity of physicists and the unconventional thinking they cultivate, it is curious that Trichet should employ the metaphor of "quantum leap" and be quite unable to benefit more creatively from it.

Implications of "real" secrets: Both the ongoing financial crisis and the revelations of the embassy cables make the case for the need to look at the world in another way (Robert Booth and Haroon Siddique, How WikiLeaks altered the way we see the world in just a week, The Guardian, 4 December 2010). The revelations reflect only the low "noforn" level of secrecy, otherwise termed "unclassified" and accessible to some 2.5 million US officials. The rest of the world is then free to speculate on how understanding of their world might be even more radically transformed by the "real" secrets of the US, "classified" and necessarily accessible to only the very few:

Top secret, which, if publicly disclosed, would cause "exceptionally grave damage" to national security.

Secret, whose release would cause "serious damage" to national security -- most classified informationis of this kind

Confidential, being defined as information that would "damage" national security if disclosed to the public.

As with many major institutions, including the UN and the Vatican, the quantity of documents so classified is immense. The reasons for such classification are at least questionable. Repsonding to an interviewer's question as to whether WikiLeaks should be declared a foreign terrorist organization, Noam Chomsky argues:

The "world knot":Clearly this reinforces the need to include the role of secrecy and ignorance into any future models of global governance, if they are to be meaningful and relevant. How else can the real condition of the world become the subject of reflection by other than the select few -- who seem so successfully to have mismanaged the challenges faced by global governance and are unable to justify their apparent incompetence by reference to relevant classified information?

The argument above is framed to focus on the connection between surface-currents and under-currents. That connection can be formally and metaphorically described as a knot. However it is the cognitive and experiential transition between the two "contradictory" realities that calls for attention -- especially given its paradoxical nature. As a question it might be framed as: What is the knot whereby systemic "loose ends" are tied? Symbolically this might be associated with the Ouroboros -- the dragon or snake "biting" its own tail. But, as illustrated above, the theory of knots highlights a whole spectrum of possible understandings of that link. As implied by the Olympic symbol, the world cannot (yet) be understood as a "one-ring circus". As previously argued (Relevance of Mythopoeic Insights to Global Challenges: cognitive integration implied by the Lord of the Rings, 2009), some may of course aspire to the mythical:

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

The rope-like flow of the ocean currents, looping around the world, can readily be understood and described topologically as a form of knot -- the "world knot". What insights might emerge from an effort to describe the world system of communication flows in such terms? Of relevance is the specific case for a topological approach to global modelling previously made in relation to the methodology of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential as (Global modelling perspective, 1995).

Reference to the "unknot" in a topological context (see above) -- usefully understood as the possibility of an "unknotted" comprehension of a global system -- highlights the challenge of comprehension of paradox. Mnemonically there are insights from the interplay between "knot" and "not" -- to the extent that "knottedness" of comprehension derives significantly from what is "not" recognized. The Möbius strip provides an accessible example. The tentative set of images above suggests the possibility of structuring phases of comprehension of the challenge of governance as a form of visual story. The best example of this is the classic set of 10 Zen ox-herding images, adapted separately to the framing of world problems (Integration of perceived problems, 1995).

Cyclopean vs. Poly-ocular vision:The fundamental mistake at this time would seem to be the confusion of comprehensive unity -- associated with simplistic uses of "universal" and "global" -- with the challenge to comprehension implied by the "unknot" or the Ouroboros. This might be termed the "cyclopean syndrome" -- the implication that depth may be comprehended through one eye.

The argument has been developed separately (Cyclopean Vision vs Poly-sensual Engagement, 2006). In relation to Polyocular strategic vision (2009) reference is made there to the much-cited tale regarding Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801) against the Danes. At a critical moment, when his superior signalled he should retreat. Nelson ordered that the signal be acknowledged. He informed his flag Captain: "I only have one eye -- I have the right to be blind sometimes," and then holding his telescope to his blind eye, said "I really do not see the signal!". By his continuing the engagement a British victory was achieved. Presumably, in ignoring feedback from their constituencies, the leaders of the world expect to emulate Nelson, raising to the "blind eye" any devices capable of correcting their defective vision.

A Potemkin knowledge-society: Promoting a Potemkin vision of global society -- through the conventional one-eyed focus on "surface-currents" -- works to the extent that "we the peoples" are blind and gullible, a primary motivation of secrecy. Then indeed, "in the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king". WikiLeaks has enabled people to recognize the need to see "in depth" -- with two eyes -- confirming widespread recognition of both the surface-currents and the under-currents. Incorporating both into future global models, and exploring the manner in which they are connected, is the challenge for the future.

Global modelling is currently inappropriately invested in the promotion of selective "Potemkin realities" -- as in the case of climate models or economic models. The Olympic symbol suggests the possibility of at least "five eyes" essential to self-remedial global governance by "we the peoples".

Beyond impoverished metaphor: Such arguments suggest that cognitive closure on the nature of the relationship between formal and informal, surface- and under-currents, positive and negative, is not (yet) appropriate. There are fruitful paradoxes to be explored and richer metaphors to be found to enable more fruitful comprehension of relevance to global governance (Metaphorical Geometry in Quest of Globality, 2009).

The irony remains that the focus of "recreation" on ball and other sports may be invoking a degree of comprehension of the nature of self-remediation processes. This is reflected in the use of sporting metaphors: "catching the ball", "running with the ball", "making points", pursuing a line of argument", "taking sides". Arenas can even be understood as loci of "upwelling" of collective hope -- in contrast to the "downwelling" associated with widespread collective despair and individual depression.

Self-defeating demonisation of individuals: It is in this context that, as the instigator of WikiLeaks and the target for official recrimination, Julian Assange has every probability of being "fast tracked" into martyrdom as the "Che Guevara of cyberspace", as noted in his home country by Martin Flanagan (Is Julian Assange the digital age's Che?The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 December 2010). There is every probability that the US will "arrange" for his assassination, as is its wont and sense of legitimate defence of national security within a cultivated politics of fear. Thereafter only the extremely gullible will believe that such arrangements were not made by the US -- rather than by "al-Qaida", as the ultimate under-current of the current period. In the eyes of history, this will seal the fate of the US as the embodiment of the betrayal of universal values (Neal Ascherson, WikiLeaks cables are dispatches from a beleaguered America in imperial retreat, The Guardian, 4 December 2010; Tanya Cariina Hsu, The Beginning of the End of the American Empire, excerpt from "The Global Economic Crisis", Global Research, 4 December 2010). Ironically it is therefore the US that has the most interest in preventing his assassination.

What WikiLeaks is really exposing is the extent to which the western democratic system has been hollowed out. In the last decade its political elites have been shown to be incompetent (Ireland, the US and UK in not regulating banks); corrupt (all governments in relation to the arms trade); or recklessly militaristic (the US and UK in Iraq). And yet nowhere have they been called to account in any effective way. Instead they have obfuscated, lied or blustered their way through. And when, finally, the veil of secrecy is lifted, their reflex reaction is to kill the messenger.... What we are hearing from the enraged officialdom of our democracies is mostly the petulant screaming of emperors whose clothes have been shredded by the net.

References

Gregory Bateson. Mind and Nature: a necessary unity. Hampton, 1979

Elise Boulding. The Underside of History: a view of women through time. Halsted, 1976